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Noreen Chikotas, associate professor of nursing

Noreen Chikotas, associate professor of nursing

Noreen Chikotas, D.Ed., CRNP, nursing department graduate coordinator, presented at the Education and Simulation conference sponsored by Drexel University in Clearwater, Fla., on “Transforming the Educational Landscape: Simulation, Innovation and Technology.” The title of her paper was “A Collaborative Effort Between Nursing and Health Communication Studies in Implementing a Standardized Patient Experience for the Advanced Practice Nurse.”

This podium presentation assisted in the dissemination of research, which was unique in that it was developed, implemented, and evaluated a collaborative effort between nursing and the social science of health communication. The purpose of the phenomenological qualitative study was to examine the impact of standardized patient experiences (SPE) in the education of the Advanced Practice Nurse (APN), thus add to the mounting evidence of SPE’s possibilities.

She has also been published in the Nurse Education in Practice Journal (February edition 2016) with a colleague, Nicole Defenbaugh, with a manuscript titled “The Outcome of Interprofessional Collaboration: Integrating Communication Studies into a Standardized Patient Experience for Advanced Practice Nursing Students.”

This manuscript presents a research study to evaluate the experiences of advanced practice nursing students with standardized patients in an advanced health assessment course and the overall value of having a scholar in health communication studies take part in the process.

Scholarship 2014

September — Noreen Chikotas, D.Ed., presented on her research at the 2014 International Rural Health and Rural Nursing Research Conference at Montana State University, in Bozeman Montana. Her presentation entitled “Case Management Clinic in Women’s Cardiovascular Health in Rural Pennsylvania” discussed the development and outcomes of a women’s cardiovascular case management clinic implemented at the Columbia County Volunteers in Medicine Clinic located in Mifflinville.

The American Heart Association (AHA) cardiac guidelines for women were utilized to screen, assess, diagnosis, educate, and manage women between the ages of 25-55 without health insurance. The International Rural Health and Rural Nursing Research Conference acts as a setting for nationally and internationally known researchers, practitioners and educators from multiple disciplines in the healthcare industry. The conference focuses on research, evidence-based practice, innovation and education to promote the health of rural and remote populations.

May — Noreen Chikotas, D.Ed., was re-awarded an Advanced Education Nursing Traineeship (AENT) grant through the Health Resources and Service Administration (HRSA) for $691,872. This grant is considered a competitive continuation award from the initial AENT grant she obtained in 2012 for $632,000.00 which assisted 32 primary care nurse practitioner students in achieving their Master’s in Nursing and certification as either Adult Nurse Practitioner’s, Adult Gerontology Nurse Practitioner’s or Family Nurse Practitioner’s.

This continuation award will assist approximately 54 nurse practitioner students over the next two years with tuition, fees, and textbook stipends. The award originated with the Affordable Health Care Act to assist in increasing the number of primary care providers in both rural and underserved regions. HRSA is the primary federal agency for improving access to health care by strengthening the health care workforce, building healthy communities and achieving health equity. HRSA’s programs provide health care to people who are geographically isolated, economically or medically vulnerable.

Scholarship 2013

February — Noreen Chikotas, D.Ed., and Michelle Ficca, Ph.D., both associate professors of nursing, participated in the Quality and Safety Education in Nursing (QSEN) Faculty Development Workshop in Orlando, Fla. The workshop aims to develop the capacity of graduate nursing faculty to teach other graduate-level faculty to incorporate quality and safety competencies and content into their programs. The training workshops targeted faculty in graduate-level programs and their clinical partners to assure that the full diversity of graduate education, such as public health or systems management, is represented.

February — Noreen Chikotas, D.Ed., and Michelle Ficca, Ph.D., both associate professors of nursing, gave a podium presentation, An Interprofessional Education Initiative Utilizing Standardized Patients with Advanced Practice Nursing Students at the American Association of Colleges of Nursing 2013 Master’s Education Conference, held in conjunction with the QSEN workshops.

Scholarship 2011

October — Noreen Chikotas, D.Ed., associate professor of nursing, presented “Urinary Tract Infections and the Relation to Health Behaviors: A Research Study” on Oct. 5-9 at the peer-reviewed American College of Nurse Practitioner 2011 Clinical Conference, Denver. The poster presented disseminated information from a quantitative research study, which explored the relationship between health behaviors (risk factors) and the occurrence of urinary tract infections (UTIs) in college-aged women which was conducted and completed in 2009 from within the Bloomsburg University Student Health Center. The conference reaches roughly 3,000 nurse practitioners in clinical practice nationally and has added to the evidence based research in the area of UTI and current health behaviors of college-age women.

January — Noreen Chikotas, D.Ed., and Kimberly Owelski, instructor of nursing, and Carol I Parks, registered nurse of PPL Corporation of Berwick, recently had two manuscripts, “Comprehensive Review of the Healthy People 2020 Occupational Safety and Health Objectives: Tools for the Occupational Health Nurse in Goal Attainment: Part I and Part II,” accepted for publication in the peer reviewed journal American Association of Occupational Health Nurses. The group believes a comprehensive review of the Occupational Health Goals of the Healthy People 2020 document were important to all nurses practicing in the occupational health realm. These manuscripts provide all occupational health nurses with the tools to implement the objectives of Healthy People 2020 to reach goal attainment in the area of occupational and environmental health.

Scholarship 2009

June - Noreen Chiktoas, associate professor of nursing, presented a poster on June 6 at the Drexel University Nursing Education Institute in Arlington, Va. Her poster "Lecture in the Education and Practice of the Nurse Practitioner," represented research she conducted during a recent sabbatical. Drexel's continuing nursing education, which has managed conferences for more than 30 years across the country, offers conferences for nurse educators, staff development, nurse practitioners, nurse midwives and physician assistants.

November - Noreen Chikotas, associate professor of nursing, had an article, "Problem-based learning and clinical practice: The nurse practitioners' perspective," published in the November journal of Nurse Education in Practice.

Chikotas's article reports the findings of a phenomenological study exploring the lived experience of the nurse practitioner (NP) who had been educated through a problem-based learning (PBL) approach and the meaning of that education on the NPs current clinical practice.

It was found that information obtained in the PBL classroom could be directly applied to professional practice providing the NP with the skills needed for clinical decision making with a holistic viewpoint and satisfaction in clinical practice. The analysis supports and challenges the current research on perceptions, experiences, satisfaction, and outcomes related to PBL.